Thoughts and observations about Modesto and Stanislaus County

Archive for the tag “Carmen Sabatino”

While this is far from the first time the Modesto Bee has allowed one of their employees to attack people in print it should be the last. Some have questioned if this was ‘slime ball’s’ idea or if it was spawned by one of his editors, I suggest either way it needs to stop and stop NOW. Papers caught creating news can’t be trusted. Public Record Requests are a wonderful tool when attempting to seek out the smoking gun of Hypocrisy. Jardine’s story isn’t a case of the misuse of public money or the public’s trust. No he’s made it personal and vindictive in our opinion.

Former Mayor Carmen Sabatino has been trying to point out that Stanislaus County D.A. Birgit Fladager through her minions has withheld exculpatory evidence (and yes the AJ Pontillo was subsequently found innocent) and was more recently caught withholding discovery from the Carson defense team. A District Attorney withholds evidence that clears a mans name is in the minds of most people despicable and now to be caught for the second, or is it the third time, hiding evidence form the defense means Stanislaus County Court rooms can hardly be called a bastion of justice.

Jardine has use an informative sign as an excuse to attack our former Mayor at his place of business. Jeff creates the story, he writes the story, and pronounces guilt in the story. But Jeff, you’re the one that’s guilty here.

By Mayor Carmen Sabatino

Below is an official public records transcript between a Modesto Bee reporter, Jeff Jardine and a Caltrans employee, Rick Estrada. The press is supposed to REPORT the news, not act in desperate protagonist measures to CREATE news, and then innocently report on their creation.

Jeff Jardine, the National Enquirer is calling – they need a gumshoe to report on alien abductions and bat-faced vampires lurking about.

January 10, 2017 at 11:19am FROM Rick Estrada TO Jeff Jardine

Jeff, you noted you were going to be out of the office for some time, so I felt an e-mail would serve best.

Regarding the Changeable Message Sign we were discussing on McHenry Avenue/State Route 108 in

Modesto:

** I have spoken to maintenance unit confirmed it is not a Caltrans sign

** I have spoken to maintenance unit and confirmed the sign is in the public right of way

** I have spoken to our permits unit and confirmed there is no permit issued for this sign

As a result, one of managers from the maintenance unit will visit this location and advise the owner of the sign that it must be removed immediately from the public right of way. If the sign is not moved following our visit, the next step is we will contact CHP and ask for law enforcement to get involved in resolving this situation.

Safety is always a priority for Caltrans. Our goal is to keep the state’s highways in the best, and safest, condition for motorists.

Regarding the use of a CMS sign when it is not in the public right of way? I would ask that you please call Caltrans’ Outdoor Advertising Unit, specifically Michele Day who oversees Stanislaus and other counties. Her number is (916) 651-1254 and this is her realm of expertise. If she does not respond, her supervisor is James Arbis (oversees NorCal) and he is at (916) 654-6413.

January 10, 2017 at 12:52pm FROM Jeff Jardine TO Rick Estrada

It was not there when I drove by a few minutes ago. Maybe the rental company wanted it out of the rain.

January 10, 2017 at 12:57 FROM Rick Estrada TO Jeff Jardine

J=happyface

January 10, 2017 at 1:21PM FROM Jeff Jardine TO Rick Estrada

What about, as you mentioned, putting out a sign that looks like a CalTrans sign but bears a political message?

A violation of any sort?

January 10, 2017 at 1:23PM FROM Rick Estrada to Jeff Jardine

That’s where Outdoor Advertising comes in. We have a unit stationed at our HQ that deals with ‘advertising’ signs of this sort … I included a name and 2 phone numbers of potential contacts who can give you more concise information.

If they don’t get back to you, let me know and I’ll pull the chain. Hope everything’s going well Glad to see the sign is gone

J=happyface

January 11th, 2017 at 11:16AM FROM Jeff Jardine to Rick Estrada

OK, so Michelle said that if an unauthorized sign is reported, a maintenance crew would go out and seize it, informing whomever that they have 30 days to come pick it up at the yard. So can you tell me if that sign was seized or direct me to someone locally who can answer that question.

Mr. Sabatino claimed I was disrespecting him by even calling him.

January 11th, 2017 at 11:22AM FROM Rick Estrada to Jeff Jardine

I spoke with our Modesto Maintenance manager, who visited the location yesterday afternoon. When he got there, the

CMS sign was already gone – having been moved by someone other than Caltrans.

City might have stepped in? Or perhaps owner was told by someone else to move it … I had checked with our guys this morning

January 11th, 2017 at 11:25AM FROM Jeff Jardine to Rick Estrada

Thanks. Some folks posted pics of it on FB, and his PI buddy wrote about it on Carmen’s blog…..

On May 6, 2014 we attended the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors (BoS) meeting and witnessed a strange occurrence during the public comment portion. Modest’s former Mayor Carmen Sabatino had just finished making some interesting points regarding the D.A.’s office and investigators. In recent weeks he has been vocal in his objections regarding the DA.’s 25 wire taps and the ensuing 25,000 intercepts in 2012 and the expense involved. Most of his time this week was involving an interrogation in Turlock of a 13 year old girl and alleged misconduct by two D.A. investigators Kurt Bunch and Steve Jacobs. these can be heard at 9:30 seconds into the meeting. Sixteen minutes into the meeting Birgit Fladager interrupts the meeting by rushing the podium out of turn to attack Carmen Sabatino and her opponent Frank Carson.

Mayor Sabatino’s earlier allegations and Birgit Fladager’s out of control behavior involving the wire taps and her investigators intrigued us.

Recently we made three Public Record Requests from District Attorney Birgit Fladager.

We requested the number of requests by year 2011, 2012, 2013. We requested any documents regarding which agencies made the wire tap requests. And finally we requested documents which would indicate if any of her investigators were working for the agencies when the requests were made. We also made it very clear we weren’t interested interfering with any investigations just who made the requests.

Here is the official response from the D.A.’s office.

Mr. Drake,
I am informed that the District Attorney's office has no documents
containing the information you described in your May 12 request. The
records containing the information you seek are court records that are
in each case sealed by order of the judge.
Ms. Fladager has informed me that she happens to know herself that in
2012 there were 4 intercepts by MPD on homicide cases that resulted in
arrests in 3 of those cases (the fourth involved the deaths of Deputy
Paris and Glendon Engert and the suspect committed suicide); there were
two intercepts by the Stanislaus Drug Enforcement Agency that resulted
in arrests (one case was prosecuted federally and the other case by
Merced County); and there was an intercept on a Sheriff's Office
homicide case that has resulted in one arrest.
If you have additional questions please let me know.
Thomas E. Boze
Deputy County Counsel
Stanislaus County Counsel
1010 Tenth Street, Suite 6400
Modesto, California 95354-0882

Now I don’t know about you, but for the District Attorney to claim she has not ONE single piece of paper tracking over 25 wire tape requests she made in 2012 alone, we find to be not only extremely questionable, but likely disingenuous in the context of her upcoming reelection bid, especially if you take into consideration how few wire tape requests (3 – 5) other counties have made. According to her she doesn’t have the ability to show how many requests were made in any single year. Is this any way to run an office? Or is it just another way to hide from the public excesses by government agencies and/or potentially corrupt individuals with the help of her office?

It’s time for recommendations for our local elections. If you’ve read the articles here on the EyeOnModesto

and listened to the radio show ‘What’s on America’s Mind‘, you’re well aware of our stances. The issues facing some offices make our choice extremely clear (MID water sales and Board Governance Policy). In others, the candidates past actions makes our choice easy (Developer/Profiteers).

From participating at MID meetings and city committee and council meetings, candidate forums and following the money, we’ve learned the true beliefs of the candidates not the ones they tell the public in order to get elected. There is even one candidate for Hart-Ransom School District who is in favor of forced public urination for 13 year old girls in mixed company (you can’t make this stuff up. Candidate (Athens Abell) wrote it on her facebook).

MID District 4 is the toughest call. We have three candidates who could perform well but unfortunately one must be chosen. The polls are suggesting the candidate most likely to defeat Jim Mortensen (arguably the worst candidate for the people/ratepayers), is Jake Wenger. For a complete breakdown on the election candidates check out recent “What’s on America’s Mind” broadcasts.